Monday's Motivation

Admittedly I've been slacking since the NYC marathon this past November.  I guess you could say I was burnt out.  But there's nothing to get me going again quite like a little friendly competition.   You see, I'm pretty competitive.  Unfortunately, I'm kind of the "jack of all trades [that part's probably flattering myself] master of none [that part's very accurate]" type of person, which makes it tough to be competitive.  Because
ultimately that really just means that I'm competitive without being particularly good at anything.  This can be very problematic (don't even get me started on playing Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy against James).  Case in point: You already know that I'm a slow runner, so can you imagine me trying to get all competitive with someone over my 5 hour marathon?  No.

Thank you Nike+ and your "most miles" challenge.  Because while I can't outrun a lot of people, I can certainly out-stubborn the best of them [it's true - ask my mom].  So when my cousin invited me to go head to head with him in a Nike+ challenge this month, I thought, "game on!"  This time around the fields would be a bit more even than when I was in the middle of marathon training and smoked him.  But as the month drew towards a close and he towards 40 miles (with a few mile lead on me) I knew I had to start increasing my mileage, stat.  Sure, I've been trying to just do a few junky 3-4 milers a week for a little while until I get back into a phase where running 3 miles doesn't feel like death anymore, and sure I probably haven't run more than 4 miles since the holidays, but that was not going to stop me from catching up.

Coming out of the weekend Neil had a cool lead of 37.83 to 31.87miles (side note: the 4mi run I did the 1st day of our challenge isn't counting because I forgot my ipod that day - oh the injustice!) - well, if that wasn't a good dose of Monday motivation I don't know what would be.  Ignoring the aches, pains and funny sinus feeling from yesterday's snowy hike, I logged in a 6.42 miler tonight, inching me into first place by just under a half mile.

With just a day left in the competition can you stand the suspense?!?

Finally, I'll share an oh-so-Philadelphia story from my run tonight:

This Really Happened...
Running up to a tricky intersection in Philly tonight I see two 60-something-year old gentlemen waiting to cross the street.  They're dressed like well-to-do businessmen, so it's not until I see one step in front of an oncoming car and nearly get hit that I realize they've had a lot to drink.

"I...I've got a fat *ss......but you....[stammer/slur]...you've got a better one."

Um...does that mean I have a nice arse or that mine is fatter than his? :-/